Romania is producing some
of the most interesting films in the world right now. This so-called New Wave
has produced films as varied as 12:08 East of Bucharest, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2
Days, Aurora, Police Adjective, Beyond the Hills and Tuesday After Christmas.
The stories are varied, but all of them look at a country still struggling with
the fall of Communism 25 years later, and searching for its identity. Child’s Pose is another of the great films to add to that
list. On its surface, it is about a mother who is overprotective of her adult
son, who has started to resent her for it, and trying to cut her out of his
life. But when he`s involved in a car accident, she seizes on the opportunity
to try and regain some of the control she has lost. I have heard some people
call her a monstrous mother – and while there is a part of that in her, and it’s
impossible not to hate what she does in the movie, it’s slightly more
complicated than that. She is, in some ways, a monster – but a very human one.

The
film is basically about class. Liminita Gheoghiu plays Corneila Keneres is one
of the year`s great performances – an affluent architect, married to a
successful man, who hates the fact that her `boy` Barbu (Bogdan Dumitrache)
married Carmen (Ilinca Goia) – who already has a child, but has yet to `give`
him one. She pumps her maid –who she also pays to clean his sons house – for
information, because he`ll barely talk to her anymore. She pays lip service in
being nice to the maid – who sees right through her, but is powerless to say
anything. When Barbu hits and kills a young boy with his car – a young boy, who
not coincidentally comes from a poor family (described as simple folk by the
police) – she swoops in and tries to take over. He gets Barbu to change his
statement – so that he wasn’t speeding – and bullies her way into the
investigation and Barbu`s life again. She`ll try to get others to change their
statements – most notably Dinu Laurentiu (Vlad Ivanov, adding another amoral
pyscho to his resume) – the driver Barbu was overtaking at the time of the
accident. But basically, what she really wants is to control Barbu.

For his
part, Barbu seems like an immature asshole – but at least he seems to realize
the poisonous effect his mother has had on his life, and wants to change. She
doesn’t see anything wrong with protecting her boy as she constantly refers to
him, even though he`s well into his 30s. There are three absolutely stunning
scenes in the movie – the first when Corneila confronts Ivanov`s Dinu, where
she meets someone even more amoral than she is. The second is a chilling scene
between Cornelia and Carmen, where Carmen tells her all about Barbu`s sex life,
and Cornelia hangs on every word. And the final scene in the movie, where
Cornelia goes to see the family of the boy Barbu killed, and may, in fact,
finally see them as people – even if they’re still not as important as her or
Barbu.

The
performance by Gheorghiu is stunning – it will put most of the Oscar
nominees this year to shame, even as it has no chance of being nominated
itself. It would have been easy to play Cornelia as a monster, but she doesn’t
really do that. She is a mother trying to protect her son – which is
understandable – and even if she uses her money and influence to do so, that is
also understandable. What is creepy is how much control she wants over Barbu –
and how she sees that as normal. It is a more nuanced performance than it seems
at first. She is matched at various scenes by Ivanov and Goia – but she
basically plays she is the centre of every scene – and she’s brilliant.

The
film works even if you don’t see it as a commentary on the current state of
Romania as a country – which I think it is – it works as a character study.
Directed by Calin Peter Netzer who
co-wrote the movie with Razvan Radulescu, the one problem I have with the movie
is that he insists on shooting most of the movie with handheld cameras, which
can be distracting at times. For the most part though, he lets the actors and
the writing take center stage – both of which are brilliant. Child’s Pose is a
movie that snuck up on me a little – one that gradually drew me in, and then
shocked me as it went along. The more I think it, the deeper and better it
becomes.

About Me

I am an accountant, living in Brantford, ON - and although I am married and have beautiful daughter, I still find time to watch a lot of movies. This blog is mostly reviews of new movies - with other musing thrown in as well.